Which free UK credit cards have 0% foreign exchange fees?

What are the best FREE credit cards with no foreign exchange fees?

As the Lloyds Avios Rewards Mastercard is no longer available to new applicants, there are no travel rewards credit cards which offer fee-free overseas purchases.

If you use a rewards credit card when travelling, you will incur a fee of 3% on everything you buy. This can never be justified by the miles and points earned on the transaction. It may be justified if you need to hit a spending target to trigger a sign-up bonus or a voucher such as the British Airways American Express 2-4-1.

Over the next week or so we are looking at a few no and low FX fee options. We reviewed Tandem a few weeks ago (click here). Here is our review of the WeSwap Mastercard travel money card, here is our updated review of Revolut (with a special offer for HfP readers) and here is our review of Starling.

All of these products have different features – there is no ‘right’ answer. Some are more fiddly than others, some are prepaid cards and some are credit cards, some have added benefits such as 0% interest on purchases.

Mainstream free credit cards with no foreign exchange fees

In this article I want to run through some mainstream credit cards which offer 0% foreign exchange fees and have no annual fee.  I haven’t included Virgin Money or Aqua as I want to cover those separately.  We looked at Tandem here.

None of the cards in this article let you earn rewards.  Aqua and Tandem, not covered here, offer 0.5% cashback on foreign spending on top of having 0% FX fees.

If you DO want to earn miles and points from your foreign spending, one option is Curve Card. Curve is free and has no foreign exchange fees up to certain limits. It recharges your purchase to any other Visa or Mastercard you own in Sterling. This means you earn miles and points on the underlying card without paying the usual 2.99% foreign transaction fee. Curve Card will pay you £5 for trying it out – read our article here.

Another option is to get a free card from Currensea. Currensea is a simple but clever idea. You pay abroad with your Currensea Mastercard debit card. Currensea translates the cost to Sterling with just a 0.5% fee (83% less than most cards charge) and withdraws the money from your bank account. You can find out more by clicking here. Currensea is free so there is no risk in giving it a try.

Option 1:  Halifax Clarity Mastercard

Core USP:  Nothing, but it does all the basics and is well established

Fee on overseas cash withdrawals?  No (but no interest free period)

Clarity is the daddy of 0% FX credit cards.  Details are on their website here.  You will see that Halifax is offering a £20 statement credit if you apply by 31st August and make a foreign currency transaction by 30th September.

There is no requirement to have a Halifax current or savings account to apply.

The card ticks all the key boxes – it is free, it has no foreign exchange fees on purchases and it has no cash withdrawal fees abroad.

The representative APR is 18.9% variable on both purchases and cash withdrawals.

Option 2:  Post Office Money Platinum Mastercard

Core USP:  0% for 18 months on balance transfers – but let down by the charge on ATM withdrawals abroad

Fee on overseas cash withdrawals?  Yes

This is another long-standing 0% card.  (The benefit of picking a card which has a long-term record of 0% FX fees is that you can be more confident that the benefit will not be taken away overnight.)

Details are on the Post Office Money website here.  The issuer is actually Bank of Ireland UK under licence.

The card is free and has no foreign exchange fees on purchases.  It DOES have a fee on cash withdrawals of 2.5% (minimum £3).  There is no charge if the card is used to buy travel money at a Post Office.

An extra benefit is 0% interest for 18 months on balance transfers.  A transfer fee of 2.89% applies.

The representative APR is 18.9% variable.

Option 3:  Creation Everyday Mastercard

Core USP:  Lower interest rate (Clydesdale is lower but has fees on cash withdrawals) which is important because you will be charged on cash withdrawals even if you settle your bill in full at the end of the month

Fee on overseas cash withdrawals?  No (but no interest free period)

This is a newer entrant to the market.  Creation also issues the IHG Rewards Club card and will also (re)launch the Marriott Rewards card in August, so you may want to be wary – I’m not sure how Creation treats multiple applications for different cards from the same person.

This card is an excellent package.  It is free, it has no foreign exchange fees on purchases and it has no cash withdrawal fees abroad.

It also has the lowest interest rate of any card here.  The representative APR is 12.9% variable on purchases and cash withdrawals.

Details are on the Creation website.

Option 4:  Santander Zero Mastercard

Core USP:  Free UK cash withdrawals

Fee on overseas cash withdrawals?  No (but no interest free period)

Santander tends change its benefits packages more often than most issuers, so this may not be a card for life. However, the package as it stands is impressive.

The package is excellent.  It is free, it has no foreign exchange fees on purchases and it has no cash withdrawal fees abroad.

There is a USP that no other card here matches – it also has no cash withdrawal fees in the UK either although you will pay daily interest on the amount withdrawn.

The representative APR is 18.9% variable on both purchases and cash withdrawals.  You can find out more here.

Option 5:  Barclaycard Platinum Travel Visa

Core USP:  0% interest on purchases for 12 months, 0% interest on overseas cash withdrawals if settled within 56 days

Fee on overseas cash withdrawals?  No, until 2022 (overseas cash withdrawals get 56 days interest free credit)

Barclaycard states that it will withdraw the 0% deal on this card in 2022.  Until then, however, it is worth a look because it is the only card on this list to offer an interest-free period on overseas cash withdrawals.  You WILL pay interest immediately on any UK cash withdrawals.

One other benefit of the Barclaycard option is 0% interest on purchases for 12 months.

The representative APR is 19.9% variable (27.9% on cash withdrawals).

Option 6:  Clydesdale B Mastercard

Core USP:  Lowest interest rate of any free 0% FX credit card, no balance transfer fee although 9.9% APR applies

Fee on overseas cash withdrawals?  Yes

The Clydesdale B Mastercard has a very low interest rate – the representative APR is 9.9% variable.

The trade-off is that, whilst purchases abroad have no foreign exchange fee, there are fees on cash withdrawals abroad.

You can transfer a balance from another credit card to the B card for free.  You will pay interest at 9.9% variable on the transfer, but if you pay off the balance quickly this may be cheaper than taking a ‘0% interest on balance transfers’ card with an upfront fee.

Conclusion

If you trust Moneyfacts, these are all of the free UK credit cards with 0% FX fees, excluding Tandem (we reviewed Tandem here) and Virgin Money and Aqua.

There is no definitive ‘best’ choice.  If you have decided to go with a 0% fee credit card instead of a debit or pre-paid card, you need to decide what is important to you – free cash withdrawals, 0% balance transfers, 0% on purchases, cashback (offered by Aqua and Tandem), whether or not you already have a card from a particular bank – and then pick the one which suits you best.

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Want to earn more points from credit cards? – April 2024 update

If you are looking to apply for a new credit card, here are our top recommendations based on the current sign-up bonuses.

In February 2022, Barclaycard launched two exciting new Barclaycard Avios Mastercard cards with a bonus of up to 25,000 Avios. You can apply here.

You qualify for the bonus on these cards even if you have a British Airways American Express card:

You can see our full directory of all UK cards which earn airline or hotel points here. Here are the best of the other deals currently available.

Earning miles and points from small business cards

If you are a sole trader or run a small company, you may also want to check out these offers:

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 12th May 2024, the Capital on Tap Business Rewards Visa card is offering a bonus of 30,000 points, convertible into 30,000 Avios. You must have a Limited Company to apply. Click here to learn more and click here to apply.

For a non-American Express option, we also recommend the Barclaycard Select Cashback card for sole traders and small businesses. It is FREE and you receive 1% cashback on your spending.